Warning Signs of an Abusive Youth Program

[cherish wisdom]

Isac Corp has listed warning signs that parents should consider before placing their child in a program. For those who are "considering placement" please read these.  Your child may be in danger if any of the following danger signs aWarning Signs of a Potentially Abusive Behavioral Treatment Center

A Treatment Center May be Abusive if:

1.   Verbal and/or written communication between the client and family members is prohibited, restricted or monitored.

2.   The program requires the parents or client to sign a form releasing the program of liability in case of injury during treatment.

3.   The program requests/demands legal custody of juvenile clients.

4.   The program houses clients in foster homes or host homes instead of allowing them to reside with their parents.

5.   The client or parents are forbidden from discussing the daily happenings at the facility. Often this policy is called ?confidentiality.?

6.   The client is denied access to a telephone.

7.   Client phone calls are monitored.

8.   The program uses confrontational therapy.

9.   The staff includes former clients of the program.

10.   Clients are restrained or otherwise physically prevented from leaving the facility.

11.   The program claims that self-injury or cutting/carving on ones body is normal behavior for a client in treatment.

12.   Parents are not allowed to stay with their child during the entire intake/entry process.

13.   The program inflicts physical punishments on clients such as exercising, running, food restrictions, and cleaning.

14.   Reading materials are prohibited or restricted.

15.   The facility does not have a clearly visible sign outside the building stating the name of the program.

16.   Clients must submit ?chain of commands? or any other such requests for basic needs such as clothes, shoes, personal items and medical care.

17.   The program is run or staffed by persons who lack adequate experience or credentials.

18.   The program requires parents or siblings of clients to volunteer services and/or raise money for the facility.

19.   A medical doctor (MD) is not present at any time during normal operating hours.

20.   Clients of the program conduct, participate in or supervise the intake/entry process.

21.   Staff members offer to help the parents obtain a court order forcing the client into the program.

22.   Clients are observed on any level of the program, while bathing, dressing or using the toilet.

23.   The purpose of the program is to treat drug abuse, but the program does not conduct a drug screen prior to entry.

24.   The program requires clients to be strip-searched.

25.   The program does not allow clients to follow their religion of choice.

26.   Staff members must approve friends, siblings, family visits, or employment.

27.   Juvenile clients are not afforded an education in accordance with state requirements.

28.   Medication is recommended, prescribed, approved or dispensed by anyone other than a medical doctor (MD).

29.   Staff members make statements such as ?your child will die without treatment? to the parents of prospective clients.

30.   Clients escort/supervise other clients.

31.   The program lists a post office box instead of a physical street address.

32.   Clients have to ?earn? the right to speak during group sessions.

33.   Clients are denied outside activities on any level/phase.

34.   Staff must approve the withdrawal of clients from treatment.

35.   The program expects total and unquestioned support of parents.

36.   Clients on any phase/level are forbidden to speak to other clients.


ISAC will be adding to this list as necessary.

If you are a parent who is considering placing a child in a behavioral treatment facility, PLEASE protect your child. Thoroughly investigate the program and all staff members by contacting local news sources, conducting internet searches, and reviewing court and police records. Be sure to verify all licenses, certifications, and accreditations of the program.

Visit the facility BEFORE you enroll your child.

NEVER place your child in a program outside of the United States.

NEVER place your child in an unlicensed facility.

NEVER surrender custody of your child to a treatment center.

re part of the program or contract:

Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
--Edward Everett

[Anonymous]

This is a very good list.

Additionally, *any* program that accepts clients with serotonin/dopamine based disorders like: bipolar disorder, depression, phobias, OCD, GAD, BPD, panic attacks, cutting/self-mutilation that claims to be able to cure those disorders or implies that they can/will cure those disorders should be viewed with *extreme* skepticism.

Ask for the exact name of the treatment(s) used on people with disorders like your child's in the program, and ask to see evidence that that treatment has been proven clinically effective in treating the disorder your child has.

Consider it a *huge* red flag if the program quotes you success rates without telling you how they determined "success"---or if the way they rate success is based on parent surveys after the kid is released/graduated or even client surveys after release/graduation.

Instead, a *good* program will be able to refer you to peer-reviewed studies published in psychiatry or psychology professional journals showing treatment effect based on things like administering standard tests for diagnosing the disorders involved (as opposed to asking parents or former clients if they were satisfied or felt helped), and the peer reviewed studies will have experimental or control groups offered different treatments and/or placebo treatments during the same period the study covered to show how much a similar group of patients improved or didn't improve with different treatment methods or placebo treatments.

If a program offers you a survey of parents/clients after leaving as evidence of how effective their program is *RUN*---do not walk, *RUN*.

Another red flag---people proving therapy to your child for any of the above disorders should have *at bare minimum* a masters degree in clinical psychology or a masters degree in social work.

Day in, day out therapy---don't except anyone with less than a Masters in the field.

The only exception is if the therapist is a student in a Masters degree program (in clinical psych or social work) or is a med school graduate working on becoming a psychiatrist, is under the direct supervision of someone with a doctorate, and all sessions are videotaped to be able to be reviewed by that supervisor with a doctorate (a licensed clinical psychologist, a PhD in social work, or a licensed psychiatrist).

Pastoral counseling by a minister is inappropriate if your child has a serotonin/dopamine based mental health problem.  Well, inappropriate for that particular problem.  Even kids with mental illnesses have spiritual needs---I'm saying don't expect a minister to be able to treat your kid's panic attacks, forex.

Timoclea

[spots]

A simple way to decide if this is a "therapeutic" boarding school or a program prison is to ask about the graduates.  You may be given a carefully-pruned list of "acceptable" program rah-rah parents, but obviously these are not going to be "disgruntled" parents [the favorite description of The Program to any person not in cult-like rapture of the Program].  Ask about the grads...not the children of the rah-rah's, but ALL the other grads.  

If this were a boarding school, even with a therapeutic component, kids should have made friends during their 2+ years there, and those friendships should last many years, perhaps a lifetime.  Can a student name 10 friends from the program, perferably ones still in contact?  First and last names, hometown, maybe what the parents do for a living, how many siblings, etc.?  Teens talk A LOT, and this general information should be gathered between kids within the first hour spent in residence...except when teens are not allowed to talk AT ALL, nor make eye contact, nor ask personal questions.  To push for personal information, like names!, is a Category 4 violation [run plans], punishable by extended periods in solitary confinement.  Does this sound like Harry Potter or President Kennedy's alma mater to you?  The Program will tell you that this is to protect confidentiality of "therapy" students, but it is not.  It is to keep the real stories of those 2+ years from leaking out to prospective clients.  Ah, but here the Internet comes in, and the stories are all over now.  

My grandaughter has said: "I got tired of going to the Library [a tiny set of bookshelves which was a required once-a-week destination at Casa by the Sea] and reading 'Chicken Soup for the Everything'.  So I started reading the huge stack of old National Geographics some parent sent down.  They had some really neat stuff [she was having to teach herself, because there was no teacher during her entire 10-month stay].  One time, there was an article about XXXXXX [a major tourist attraction within blocks of her home in California].  It had an aerial picture, and I could see my own house!  I was so excited, but there wasn't anybody to tell, because we weren't allowed to talk.  It was so neat to know my own world was still out there, but I couldn't share it."

She also said, "Some of my best friends in my life, I made at Casa."  She has said this before several times, and I thought it very odd, considering she only occasionally mentions first names, and knows virtually nothing about them as persons.  

I asked, "How can they be best friends if you couldn't talk?"  

She replied, with some puzzlement because she actually had never thought about it, "Well, we learned how to talk with our eyes when staff wasn't looking."  One "best friend" was a tough little cookie from LA who taught her to free-throw a basketball during the 30-minute daily "PE" period [the only outdoor time offered at all].  She knew this girl was 17, because the girl exited shortly after when she turned 18.  

When I explained that she probably clung to *any* human connection during this stressful time with a greater-than-normal fervor, she began to understand why she still thinks of these phantom relative-strangers as her "best friends". That these girls may still be there, suffering all the mental abuse and despair that is WWASPS, is her greatest saddness now.

So ask about The Others.  Is there a class reunion?  Are letters ever shared upon returning home?  Can a survivor tell you about the families of any of the girls she spent untold hours with, crammed 24 into a dorm of double-deck beds, a single laundry basket for possessions, an aisle too narrow to walk side-by-side.  If you read web sites from parent groups (like the Seattle or Phoenix support groups, particularly strident Program supporters), notice how the kids are not much involved.  These "during" and "post" support groups are for the parents, because they need to rationalize what they have done.  The kids don't want much to do with the Program, unless they find employment with WWASPS or escort services, and know furthering the torment is good for their job futures. I don't think you will ever find a survivor sending off a large check 10 years down the road to his "alma mater".  This is not the school, nor the school years, that your child will fondly remember.

[Anonymous]

Spots - how would you know?  Your grand daughter did not complete the program.  Every post grad I know is in contact either personally, phone or e-mail with other grads.  Yes, many years later.  That's more than I can say for my old high school buddies.  Reunions are surface - these kids know how to talk with each other - well below the surface of how great someone looks 10-25 years later, how much money they make, etc.

Your grand daughter wasn't given the opportunity to have this connection post grad.

[Anonymous]

There are many grads that go to the support group meetings.  There are also many non-grads that go.  Would Spots be open to her grand daughter going to a support group to reconnect with some of the Casa by the Sea kids? ?? I didn't think so.  It's all about Spots, not about what her grand daughter wants.  She has controlled the situation from the get go and to let her self "allow" her grand daughter to reconnect would mean loss of control.  

 Yes, they are for every kid or family that is/was involved with WWASP, not just grads.

[Anonymous]

P.S. - Spots - How could a caring human being take a child's feelings and turn them into emotional confusion?  She had friends there and you're telling her it was just a figment of her imagination?  That's abuse, lady

[Anonymous]

On 2004-06-07 11:32:00, Anonymous wrote:

"P.S. - Spots - How could a caring human being take a child's feelings and turn them into emotional confusion?  She had friends there and you're telling her it was just a figment of her imagination?  That's abuse, lady"

If you read that into what Spots said, you are one screwed up person.

Spots didn't say they weren't friends.  She pointed out how important the little things about human contact became because so little of it was allowed----and how parents could use that kind of information to tell, from talking to program grads, if the program was abusive---even if the grads didn't think of the program that way.

As for reading Spots as controlling, I don't see where you're getting that, at all.  From what I've seen Spots is open and supportive and if her granddaughter wanted to, for example, get out on the internet and look for other kids who had been in Casa (like adults who were kids in various programs have done on Fornits and elsewhere), I expect Spots would be extremely supportive of that choice.

I think you just have a vested interest in seeing anything at all about Spots as bad.

Timoclea

[Anonymous]

Oh yes indeed; you keep the grads in touch as much as possible; and exclude anyone who isn't a grad to the exclusion of every friend the kid had when you can. There is a reason for this. And you fail to mention how lonely the grads are. The grads tend to be horribly lonely. She's doing great, but so lonely. He's completly changed for the better, but he's so lonely.

But most don't graduate. No where near most.
And they are forbidden to share contact info with each other and forbidden from your BB.
I asked my kid as well; how did you become friends when you couldn't talk? He cheated.
In several cleaver ways.
 Spots has a very valid point.
The strength of the friendships are largely due to the comrade in arms factor. They suffered abuse and deprivation together. They are witnesses and survivors. This creates a bond unlike any other.
And they do tend to find one another, dispite your best efforts to isolate them.

[Anonymous]

Heres a couple of wwasp grads who found one another.



[> [> [> Subject: Re: My Personal Experience at Cross Creek Manor  


Author:
bruce
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Date Posted: 01:38:36 05/24/04 Mon

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Loah, stop lying too these people. You know your life sucks and you are a avid drug abuser.

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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: My Personal Experience at Cross Creek Manor  


Author:
Loah
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Date Posted: 11:14:13 05/24/04 Mon

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Haha...Bruce has jokes....
funny buster~~~at least I'm not struggling with my sexual orientation.....you bahkla mofakra
knobbbypoo

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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: My Personal Experience at Cross Creek Manor  


Author:
bruce
[Edit]  
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Date Posted: 11:24:18 05/24/04 Mon

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sexual orientation? lmao, are you still mad about the fact that I wont sleep with you even when I am drunk and on drugs?

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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: My Personal Experience at Cross Creek Manor  


Author:
Loah
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Date Posted: 11:42:33 05/24/04 Mon

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dont kid yourself lil man.......
just cause you thought "hell no not on your best day and my worst" meant "daddy I want you" doesn't make it fact....
if that lets you sleep better at night, keep the dream alive then.

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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: My Personal Experience at Cross Creek Manor  


Author:
bruce
[Edit]  
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Date Posted: 12:07:19 05/24/04 Mon

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Lil man (looks side to side) unless you are talking to my pinkie finger the only thing small is that lil piece of skin you call a ball sack between your legs. See where you fucked up is trying to categorize me into that section of dudes who kiss your feet cause you is a woman. Ha ha I aint them so you can take that shit somewhere else. So why dont you go in the kitchen and make some dinner for your family before your husband starts whoopin ya ass for smokin all his crack rock.

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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: My Personal Experience at Cross Creek Manor  


Author:
LOAH
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Date Posted: 13:01:46 05/24/04 Mon

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you must have lost your damn mind.
ill talk to your punkass privately.

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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: My Personal Experience at Cross Creek Manor  


Author:
bruce
[Edit]  
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Date Posted: 14:35:36 05/24/04 Mon

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Im just playin loah, calm down, you know I just love fuckin with you. Come give daddy a hug.

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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: My Personal Experience at Cross Creek Manor  


Author:
Loah
[Edit]  
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Date Posted: 12:44:36 05/26/04 Wed

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forget the hug. I did go get you a gift. It's a big fat stick just for you to sit on.
Hope you like it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their both doing fine by their own account; and are just B essen here. I guess.

[spots]

As I said, the Seattle and Phoenix support groups are strident.  Absolutely anything I say, I can be assured will be reamed by someone for every post I make...most often by an anonymous parent from the Arizona area, chanting the Party Line for validation.  Moving on, to real life...

My grandaughter is doing well, after six months here in our small community in Northern California.  She has made friends, and has spent overnights at a couple of girlfriends...what every parent could want in "normal" teen relationships.  Her first months here, she was agressive toward teens.  She was hostile to girls, and (because she is very pretty), downright mean to the many boys who flocked around her.  She was asked out on dates (carefully monitored by us, because she is only 15) by some of the most "popular" boys.  The student body president dated her 3 times, but she pushed him away.  She told me she didn't want to get involved with a senior who would be gone in 4 months.  Shades of WWASPS?  Losing friends frequently as they disappear out the door?  She remembers vividly coming back from the classroom area, and seeing empty bunks with their mattresses folded up, the former-girlfriends disappeared into the free world.  That hurts.  This young man, however, is still her "friend", and I think would like to be much more.  We feel he is a quality person, and she is re-thinking her aggressive reaction to her peers.  

She is moving forward, skipping summer school this year (although I'd like to see her pick up some grades).  Right now, I'm usurping her computer to write this post, as she is frantically finishing her final biology report (sound familiar?).  So, I must relinquish it.

FYI, she is going to a summer surfing camp in Maui.  It is in a leased Girl Scout camp, sounds wonderful (I talked at length to the director), and WE may be able to meet her and spend another week as a family in Hawaii.  Hoop-ah!

[Deborah]

Thanks for the update Spots.

I can relate to the 'agressive' behavior. I saw it with my older son who spent time in an abusive military academy- our lawsuit settled recently. He was down right mean to his 'friends' and himself- was into self mutilation for a while.

I haven't seen that with the younger son who spent a short time in a Baptist Military Academy and then 20 months in a TBS. Could be because the older son was only away 6 months? Long enough to get angry, not long enough to shut down. I don't see much "fight" in the younger son.

They were here last weekend.  The younger just graduated and is headed for college. Leaves Wed for 3 weeks traveling around Europe. On the suface he is doing well. On closer observation I still see effects of the program's conditioning.

We were at my daughters baby shower. The pool was full of guys playing water volleyball. He was in the livingroom playing pool. Alone. I attempted to talk to him but he was pretty non responsive. He looked physically tired, exhausted. He was up late the night before so I assumed that was the cause. He left early. When I got home he was still grouchy. He went for a run and showered which seemed to improve his mood. As did a talk with his brother, I later found out. I didn't press him and he later voluntarily apologized, explaining that my son-in-laws dad, who can be a busy body and down right rude to young people, had made a snide remark to him.
 
Before his stint in the BM facility that would have rolled off him like water on a duck's back. It's hard to see him have this dramatic reaction to an adult 'authority' figure. They didn't 'teach' anything about mutually respectful relationships with adults. They 'taught' that teens are supposed to take what's dished out and keep their mouths shut, and their feelings about it to themselves. I will forever resent them and what they do in the name of 'therapy'.

We've been 350 miles apart since he returned. He will be attending a college that's about 45 miles away. I'm looking forward to more time with him and making myself available to listen and hopefully help him sort through some of the confusion and conditioning.